


Valentine's Day

by Hornet394



Series: DFB Primary School (Translation from chi) [2]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: DFBPrimary!AU, Friendship, M/M, Puppy Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 15:05:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2392730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hornet394/pseuds/Hornet394
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DFB Primary School!AU</p><p>The Valentine's Day auction is this establishment's fine tradition, and this year's performances caused wide panic.<br/>Bastian and Christoph are both thinking of ways to spend the day with their favourite people.  Thomas just wants to eat.<br/>In the end, Basti and Poldi earn a lot this day.<br/>Manuel and Christoph sign unequal treaties, with complicated additional articles.  The latter loves it.<br/>And this all happens, in that order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [情人节](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2213196) by [PolarBeer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolarBeer/pseuds/PolarBeer). 



> It's best to read the early work "Everything Fresh and New" first: http://archiveofourown.org/works/2208726  
> It will tell you how the DFB Primary School Idiot List works.  
> The traditional auction inspired by the movie and novel "FLIPPED"
> 
> Second try at Translation, give chance!!! Many jokes lost in between, though :(

一

DFB Primary School’s Valentine’s Day has a long history, with its own unique culture, with everyone pitching in with the fun.

No, please don’t misunderstand, even though this school has produced model couples like Schwenski, to most boys and girls the size of an ice cream scoop matters more than love.

Of course, Lukas also thinks that the size of an ice cream scoop is top priority, since Bastian never buys his own, instead he steals it from under his own mouth.

Basti says, the taste of the ice cream is also important.  Strawberry is the best, mint second.

Urg, we went off-track.  The so-called Valentine’s activity is as followed: Boys second grade or above has a 5% chance every year to be drawn as “Lunch boys”.  Their mothers would prepare a basket of good food for them, and the school’s director Mr Rizzoli (An Italian) would hold an auction.  The auctioned object would be the food in the basket - more accurately speaking, the successful bidder had the right to share the bounty with the owner of the basket.  The proceeds from the auction would go to SPCA or something like that.

In the football team, the lucky ones are: Thomas, Lukas, and Manuel.

Thomas is very happy, he planned on letting his mum make a feast for him and symbolically give a bit to the girl, while the rest of that would be going into his own stomach.

But Fips said that there wouldn’t be a single girl who wanted to buy the second place on the Idiot list.

Lukas is very troubled, because he originally wanted to spend Valentine’s Day with Bastian.  If he had to eat with some girl, Bastian would be angry for days.  So the two of them discussed among themselves to deliver newspapers and milk, to ensure that Bastian would have enough money to buy Lukas then.

Bastian wanted to pull Christoph in too, the three of them making money together, this way it would be safer.

Christoph is very happy that Manuel’s friends value him so much, so he agreed joyfully.

But Fips said that Lukas’ brain only contains Bastian, football, chips, and ice-cream, and is rank no 3 on the Idiot list, there wouldn’t be any girl who would be willing to pay a high price for him.

Manuel is very happy, because he thinks that Phillip makes a whole deal of sense, Thomas and Lukas poses little to no threat at the auction, so the fans would be more than willing to bid for himself.  If he could be sold at a high price, it would make him so proud.

二

Actually, Christoph’s dream Valentine’s Day is to spend it with Manuel.

The reason why this thought emerged dates back to last Christmas.

Christoph’s aunt came to see him then, and brought little Chris to the bookstore, letting him choose a book he liked.

Christoph’s a bit dazed, and in his mind Thomas Müller’s precious advice zips past: “Manuel is a guy who likes face, he doesn’t like playing with childish people.  While you, you’re just a first grader, so you need to act more mature, he will like you more then!”

Thomas’ invaluable words in mind, he couldn’t help but stop in the middle of the bookstore and think very carefully.  “Auntie, what’s maturity?”

“...Maturity, it’s like being an adult, especially at treating friends.”  Auntie replied absentmindedly as she flipped through a recipe.

Christoph nodded, not fully understanding her, and looked around.  At the bestseller’ list he saw two books: “How to Become a Mature Boyfriend” and “How to Become a Perfect Girlfriend”, while Christoph had no idea what some words in the other book titles were.

Christoph went on tiptoes unhesitantly, taking a copy of “How to Become a Mature Boyfriend.” Because “How to Become a Perfect Girlfriend” has to be for girls! He thought confidently.

Swear to Gott, little Christoph only wanted to learn from the books, to let himself become a “mature (boy)friend” only.

Auntie and the bookstore salesperson were a bit shocked, but they didn’t stop Christoph.

Even though he understood the book title, there were tons of sentences in the book that he didn’t.  Christoph was straight yawning as he read it, until he came to Chapter “Valentine’s Day”.

“Valentine’s Day is a very important date.  No matter what, make sure that you can spend it with your sweetheart!  It would be even better to have a romantic surprise.”

“Mum, what’s a sweetheart?”

“Christoph, are you secretly watching the seven o’clock again?” But mum still answered him, “Your sweetheart is the one you love.”

The one you love, that’s Manuel! The little green sprout in Christoph’s heart wriggled again.

Therefore, he had to spend Valentine’s Day with Manuel!

三

But Christoph’s beautiful dream was quickly crushed by the Manuel himself.

When everyone was talking about Valentine’s Day, Manuel said happily, “I’m going to be sold for the highest price in the whole auction!”

Christoph asked bluntly, “What’s the highest price?”

Manuel immediately grew alert, looking at him.  “What do you want? It doesn’t matter how much I get bid for.  If I get bid by a kid in first grade, I will become the laughingstock of the class!”

Christoph’s uneven eyes stared at Manuel miserably.  “I can’t? I will make lots of money! I won’t embarrass you!”

Manuel thought of that little duckling again, and quickly forced himself to turn and not look at Christoph.  He waved his hand dismissively, “It’s not about money! There’s no room for negotiation.  If you try and auction for me, I won’t talk to you ever again!”

Christoph lowered his head depressedly.  At the same time, Bastian appeared in the form of a reliable and responsible senior, and proposed the plan for Christoph to help make money for Lukas.

His recruitment of Christoph into his plan progressed in a low-key fashion, even Thomas Müller the intelligence expert had no idea of that.

So, Bastian and Lukas woke up very very very early those days, one delivering milk and one delivering newspapers.  Seeing Poldi’s dazed and clearly-not-awake face every morning, drowsily saying hi to himself as he stuffed his newspaper to him, Bastian almost wanted to break his own piggy bank - almost.  Lukas’ choice of birthday present has always been unpredictable, such a normal birthday gift didn’t come easy at all.

Simple and pure Christoph then became the victim of the two’s masterplan.

Delivering milk and newspapers were already out of consideration, so it took Christoph some effort before he found a job in helping the elderly couple next door walk their dog.

Even though it was “walking their dog”, it was in fact “Being walked by their dog”.  Future laureate Thomas Muller couldn’t help but be giddy about his rhetoric technique.

Manuel always saw that little figure being pulled around frantically by three husky dogs with respectively black, white, and grey pelts.

Every time Christoph saw Manuel, he always said Hi out of habit.  However, these three dogs always dashed in circles with him in tow, so every time he could only manage to blurt out one syllable before Manuel lost sight of him again.  It often took three rounds before he could put together a scant “Hi Manuel!”.

Mr Löw was pleasantly surprised as he commented that Christoph seemed to be running even better, the nickname of “Lungsy” was a well-deserved one.

Everyone thought that Christoph’s working spree was to make money to bid Manuel on Valentine’s Day, even Manuel himself thought so.  The only two who knew the truth were the instigators Bastian Schweinsteiger and his beau Lukas Podolski.

四

Valentine’s Day, the hall was dressed up prettily with aromatic roses.

Thomas Müller made everyone explode with the rumour mill first.  Besides the regular performances for Valentine’s Day, Julian Draxler would sing ”Let it Go”, while Per Mertesacker would perform a dance routine to “Coloured Flags’.

“Is there no one else in this school?”  Fourth Grader Miro Klose couldn’t help but ask.

“Shh, don’t let Per hear that, he’ll be sad.”  Mesut Ozil said.

Thomas not only brought this good news, he even started selling cotton balls.  Even though Mats Hummels complained that “this cotton isn’t as good as the ones back home” he still pulled out money for two and stuffed them into his ears.  Manuel didn’t want to buy cotton, so he hid the hall’s microphone.

Valentine’s Day celebrations are finally starting!

Manuel’s wishful thinking was for naught.  The missing mic didn’t affect Julian’s mood at all, he not only sang the whole “Let it Go”, he even improvised “Little Apple” on stage.  When the songs were over, Per started twirling around in the soft music, dancing to the soothing tune.

Mr Rizzoli chose this moment to walk on stage to indicate the beginning of the auction.

Everyone was confused. Per had just started his dance, why was the auction starting now?

On one hand Mr Rizzoli was already introducing the auction rules, on the other hand Per was still immersed in his performance, dancing like there was no tomorrow, dancing with all his heart and soul.  It seems like Per was destined to exist as the background setting of the auction - the children below tried their best to focus on the auction, but their gazes were inadvertently drawn to Per’s cavorting every now and then.

五

The three boys in the football team were at the end of the list.  In the earlier auctions, some people left with smiles on their faces while other didn’t, but it was still rather lively and cheerful, all in all Mr Rizzoli was very pleased.

“The next one is - Lukas Podolski.” Mr Rizzoli read from the list.  Due to the lack of mic, he was basically roaring as he spoke.  “Okay, Lukas, go introduce yourself, and what good food you have in your basket.”

“Hi, I’m Lukas, third grade.”  Lukas tried to keep his speech concise and boring like Bastian told him to.  “I only have white bread in my basket.”

Lukas wasn’t exactly happy to say that, in fact.  His basket actually contained blueberry cakes, baked pizza, and potato salad.  But Bastian had admonished him over and over again, “Just say that there’s only white bread in your basket.”

Things progressed better than Bastian had ever expected.  After Mr Rizzoli announced the starting price, only a few girls raised their bids, not that their bids had any threat.  Very soon, Bastian called out the pay he had received for delivering milk for a month, after that no one else called out a higher price.  He didn’t even have to use Lukas and Christoph’s share.

So Bastian passed a note to Christoph:

“Thank god, we managed it only with my money.  You can keep yours to bid Manuel.”

Christoph stared at the note.  Of course he wanted to bid for Manuel, but on the other hand, there must be a lot of girls who would fight to bid for Manuel, his share would never be enough.  Moreover, Manuel had also warned Christoph clearly he couldn’t bid for him...

Christoph took out all his money hesitantly, counting them once more on his knee.

Manuel saw this from afar, and couldn’t help but stamp the words “Idiot” onto Christoph’s face.

Whatever, if he wanted to bid, so be it... His glorious reputation wouldn’t be destroyed even if he spent Valentine’s Day with this idiot... right?

六

Christoph forced himself to pay attention to Mr Rizzoli, Thomas’ auction had already started.

“Thomas Müller, good lad!”  Mr Rizzoli caressed his hammer, “Starting price at two dollars! Is there anyone who wants to bid two dollars?”

Deadly silence rang below the stage.  Every girl knew that Thomas Müller was number 2 on the idiot rank (originally number 1), and it was quickly becoming embarrassing.  Only Per remained oblivious to it all, still twirling around dutifully.

“Let me see, Thomas’ basket has strawberry milk, chocolate cookies, cheesecakes, hot dogs, apples, lemon juice, tuna salad... oh my god Thomas why did you bring so much to eat?”

Mr Rizzoli wanted to attract the bids of the gluttons, but no one was willing to eat lunch on Valentine’s Day with Idiot No. 2.  The silence in the little auditorium was getting creepy.

Christoph didn’t have the heart to watch on.  He was a kind and gentle kid, and thought that Thomas was rather pitiful.  He was not only treated as Idiot No. 2 (he had no idea he himself was No. 1), no one was willing to bid for him at the Valentine’s Day auction.

Come to think about it, Thomas really took care of Christoph.  Like that thing with apologizing to Manuel last time, Thomas was very supportive and gave him a lot of ideas, ones that made much sense.

As he thought about this, Christoph raised a quivering hand.  “I’ll give 5 dollars!”

Manuel gaped at Christoph from next to Thomas - he was going to buy Thomas? Not himself?？

Mr Rizzoli smiled as he beat his hammer, “Five dollars once, five dollars twice, five dollars thrice! Sold! Congratulations, Christoph!”

Thomas ran down to sit next to Christoph, his basket in his lap.  “Thanks bro, but most of the food still belongs to me...”

Manuel glared at Christoph and Thomas down there, anger rising in his heart inexplicably.

This Idiot was walked by three gigantic dogs for an excruciating month, just to spend Valentine’s Day with another Idiot?  This Idiot was incurable.

七

And then it was Manuel’s own auction session, but he wasn’t entirely in it, the self-introduction that he had prepared for a long time also went out of the window.

Even so, the girls were extremely enthusiastic in bidding for Manuel.

He was at last sold for 20 dollars, which made him feel a tad bit better.

After the auction, Mr Rizzoli brought the kids to the school cafeteria, to let the buyer and the auctioned boy spend their Valentine’s Day lunch.  Like the hall, the cafeteria was decorated extravagantly with roses.

The Valentine’s Day festivities were over too, “Coloured Flags” Per Mertesacker also bid the stage farewell reluctantly, he thought that he could still dance for two or three more hours.

He only smiled when Mr Rizzoli said that “You can prepare a new dance for everyone at Christmas”.  

The girl who bid Manuel wasn’t actually that familiar with him, seemingly rather shy and passionate at the same time.

Manuel silently took the food from his basket out, except for all sorts of cakes and bread, there was also a big jar of Nutella chocolate sauce - his favourite.

The table to the left sat Idiot number 1 and Idiot number 2, while the table to the right sat Idiot number 3 and boyfriend.

It was the first time Manuel realized he could multitask, he was basically looking at all directions and listening to everything.

The girl opposite to him was ranting on about her favourite dolls.

To the right, Bastian and Lukas seemed to have touched a funny subject, the two of them had collapsed into laughter again.

To the left, Thomas was eating and speaking at the same time.  Meanwhile Christoph remained silent, gaze darting to Manuel’s side every now and then.

Manuel pretended to stay calm and spread Nutella on his bread, but he had no idea that he had put Nutella on both sides of one bread and none on the other.

He sent a smile to the girl opposite to him, trying to make her shut up about those dolls.  “By the way, why did you bid for me?”

The girl replied without hesitation, “It’s because you look like a doll! Bright blue eyes, red lips, and the golden hair too! I love dolls!”

Manuel had no idea that he would receive such an answer.  He hated hearing that he looked like dolls!

The girl was still saying cruelly, “Didn’t you know? Not just me, all the girls in my class think that you look like a doll...”

Manuel’s anger was brewing over the top.

He didn’t know what was going on with himself, even though he hated being called a doll, it wasn’t the first time... it was all Lungsy’s fault! After he bid for Thomas nothing was going right!

八

At this moment, someone suddenly stood up - it was Christoph.

Christoph clenched his fists to his side helplessly.  He had secretly been observing Manuel’s table, and due to his accurate judgement of Manuel’s emotions, he’d long discovered that Manuel was absolutely fuming.  He thought that he had to do something, so he quickly stood up and walked to Manuel’s table.

With such a serious face coming over, even the girl was shocked and naturally shut up.

Manuel spared a glance for Christoph, “What are you doing here?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it...” Christoph replied honestly, “Are you mad?”

Manuel thought a bit, then he said, “Take two baskets of food with you, and come with me.”

Firstly, Manuel really didn’t want to continue eating with the girl who treated him like a doll.

Secondly, Bastian and Lukas next table was shining so brightly they unnerved him.

The most important point is, Manuel believed that it was a mistake for Christoph to bid Thomas, and he had to rectify this mistake.

After saying that, Manuel left his seat, walking out of the cafeteria without looking back.

Christoph stood there for a long time before he understood Manuel’s meaning.  At everyone’s shocked stares (except for Basti and Poldi, they were still in lala land), Christoph smiled apologetically as he screwed the Nutella jar shut and put it back in the basket, and took Thomas’ basket as well.  As Thomas was too shocked, he remained motionless as he watched his meal be taken from him.

Manuel waited for a while outside the restaurant before he saw Christoph run out with a basket in each hand.

Christoph didn’t ask Manuel why, he just asked, “Manu, where are we going?”

Manuel considered briefly, “We’ll find a place to finish off this food.”

 

End of Chapter 1

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which MANY jokes were lost in translation I crei

一

Now we turn the camera to DFB Primary’s cafeteria.

Lukas and Bastian fed each other throughout the whole meal but surprisingly, finished the food at normal speed.  After lunch, the two kids happily licked their lips and sat down beneath a dense tree on campus.

Their earlier plans all involved how to spend the festival together, but now that they could, they discovered that they hadn’t actually discussed what they would actually do.

Bastian said, “We not only could spend the day together, you even got extra cash! Woah, it’s just like dreaming.”

Lukas now remembered that he hadn’t used his wages from delivering newspapers yet, “I can use the money to buy a new pair of shoes!”

Bastian raised both his hands in agreement, “Good idea! Buy the ones I have, those are so awesome! And I’ve never missed a pass with them!”

The both of them loved Bastian’s new pair of yellow shoes, and of course Lukas wanted them, but he said, “But my wage isn’t enough, those shoes are new...”

“Then we’ll think of a way to make some money! But we’ll have to be quick, what if it goes out of stock?”

The Podolski family had just moved in from Koln in Lukas’ second grade, so they weren’t exactly well-off.  Even as number 3 on the idiot list, he was rather sensitive to money-grubbing chances.  Take last term for example, he collected over a thousand soda cans and sold them to the recyclers, taking the money to buy a pair of shoes (those shoes were very shabby now).

Lukas came up with an excellent idea today as well.  “Today is Valentine’s Day, we can sell roses!”

Flowers weren’t a bad choice.  For children like Lukas and Bastian, they didn’t need any passionate romance, they only needed to spend time together happily.

But Bastian posed out a very realistic question, “Now it’s already noon, the fresh flower market would have closed already.  Where do we get fresh roses from?”

The two of them looked at each other, each in deep thought.

Bastian suddenly realized, “My mum’s roses are blooming, let’s go pick them!”

“No way, do you want your garden to become like Benedikt's dad’s head?”

Lukas’ laureate dream wasn’t for nothing, this analogy shocked Bastian to the core.

That was too, too terrible.

The two of them fell silent again.

二

A loud and clear Bavarian broke the silence.  “Hey! Why are the two of you sitting here for?”

It was Thomas, who was begging scraps from every table since Christoph had taken all his food.

Bastian lifted his head and smiled, “We’re thinking about roses.”

“Achoo!”  Thomas first sneezed, than his mouth fell open shocked.  “What’s with roses? ... Achoo!”

“Are you ok?”  Lukas suspected that Thomas would cough his lungs out as well.

“Achoo! It’s all because of the roses in the hall and the cafeteria! I’m, I’m allergic to flowers!”  Thomas said melancholically, “I’m glad that those roses are about to be thrown away.”

A weird glint came to Bastian’s eyes, but he still said to Thomas, “You’d better go to Dr Wohlfart to check it out.”

“Thanks,” Thomas said, “But you still haven’t told me about the roses, by- Achoo!”

After Thomas was gone, Bastian pulled on his boyfriend’s hands excitedly, “Let’s go get the hall and cafeteria roses to sell, come on!”

Lukas sat there rigid for three seconds.

Then he planted a loud kiss on Bastian’s face delightedly.

三

The two of them split up, one to the hall and one to the cafeteria, asking the janitors’ politely whether they could take the roses used for decorations.  In return, they helped the janitors’ clean up.

After an hour, the two of them each carried a huge bunch of flowers with intoxicating fragrance.  Lukas went to the florists nearby to buy coloured paper, asking the art teacher to teach them how to wrap up the flowers.  Next, Bastian took the gardener’s watering can, sprinkling water droplets on each blossom.

Both of them thought that these roses were way better than the ones in the

Bastian hugged half of the roses to his chest, sneaking a glance to Lukas - his Prinz was taking in the aroma of the other roses hungrily, the roses of pink of white and of red framing Prinz Poldi’s silly little smile.  It was adorable.

Bastian could feel something overflowing from his heart, something sweet as honey.

The two of them were natural talents at flower-selling, all the couples fell for the pair of angelic smiles and mouthwatering flowers and happily parted with their money.  In less than an hour, the both of them were left with just a few.  Bastian put the remaining ones together.

“There’s still a huge bunch,” Lukas said, cocking his head to a side.

Bastian looked around, searching for any couples that have slipped through the net.

Suddenly two familiar people zipped past at the end of the street.

One was Manuel, walking in front with huge strides; the other was Christoph, holding two big baskets, following Manuel’s footsteps obediently.  Manuel walked briskly with nothing on him, but every now and then he would turn to look at Christoph, stopping to wait for him.

A sly grin sneaked onto Bastian’s face, and put his hands to Lukas’ ear to whisper to him.

As Lukas listened, the smile on his face gradually evolved into a cheeky grin.

五

At this point, Christoph should thank his past month of being walked by dogs.  After all, holding two big baskets running after a third grader wasn’t exactly easy for a first grader.

Even though Manuel and himself had already demolished Manuel’s own basket at the park, they could only stare longingly at Thomas’ basket but their stomachs just couldn’t handle it.  Moreover as it was Valentine’s Day, there were couples hugging and cuddling everywhere in the park.  Christoph stared curiously at those adults, he couldn’t take in enough.  On the other hand, Manuel’s was blushing furiously, he didn’t know where to look, and finally escaped the park with Christoph in tow.

As Christoph was silently thinking as to why Manuel wasn’t willing to spend an extra minute in the park, someone suddenly pulled him into an alley as he was turning the corner.

He turned to see Bastian pulling him by the sleeve, while Lukas quickly put a hand over his mouth.

“Lungsy, we’re here to help,” Bastian said, exchanging a smile with Lukas, “Did you know that you should give roses to your lover on Valentine’s Day?”

六

“So, I can buy your flowers and give them to Manuel?”  Christoph quickly understood their intentions.  He put a hand on his chin, he faintly recalled something similar on “How to Become a Mature Boyfriend”.

At Christoph’s hesitation, Bastian said, “Poor Lungsy, you just don’t understand what Valentine’s Day means.  Nevermind, just look.”

Bastian winked suspiciously at Lukas, and the two put distance between them in synchronization, then walked slowly to each other, with Bastian hiding the bunch of roses behind him.  When he came up to Lukas, he suddenly pulled out the flowers, touching Lukas’ nose with them.

“My Prinz! Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Lukas’ blue eyes light up immediately, letting out an “Aha!” - that didn’t need any acting on his part.

Bastian pulled Lukas by the hand closer with a smile, closing his eyes gently with his mouth puckered up.

Hugging the flowers in one hand, Lukas clutched Bastian’s hands tightly, closing his eyes too.  A radiant smile on his face, he slowly pressed his lips onto Bastian’s.

Christoph was a bit shocked, but he quickly started contemplating as he observed, his hands on his chin.

It was a long long time before the two parted reluctantly.  Lukas smiled sweetly, kissing Bastian a few more times, going back for more.  Between each kiss, there were murmurs of “Schweni”, “Mein Hase”, “I love you so much”.

Christoph felt that the air was filled with pink bubbles, each bubble reflecting the couple’s happy smiles.

He suddenly got envious of Bastian and Lukas - he couldn’t help but imagine, if he gave this big bunch of roses for Manuel, how would Manuel react? Compared to Mein Hase and Schweni, he much hoped Manuel could call him Apple or Foal... if Manuel suddenly said to him “I love you so much”, Christoph would probably die from happiness.

Even so, Christoph loves any name Manuel calls him by.  Idiot sounds amazing actually.

Christoph quickly took every last coin from his pockets (the money he earned from being walked for an entire month minus the five dollars used to pay for Thomas), asking urgently, “I only have this much, is it ok?”

Lukas never thought that Christoph would take out so much, and his jaw dropped open, out of all words.

Bastian pondered for a while.  “Seeing that we’re teammates, I’ll... I’ll give you a friendship discount, not that I want to.  Leave your money, take the flowers.”

Lukas quickly offered up the roses, afraid that Christoph would hesitate or worse, change his mind.

hristoph happily took the roses ecstatically, handing over the money.  Now he had nothing in his pockets.

Bastian quickly supplemented, “You can’t tell Manuel.”

“Why?”

“Because... Because if Manuel found out, he would come to me for flowers too.  Do you want Manuel to give flowers to other people?”

Fear showed in Christoph’s expression as he shook his head furiously.  He carefully hugged the flowers, but holding two baskets and holding the big bunch at the same time posed a bit of a challenge to a child.

“Two baskets is a bit much, right?  Let me and Lukas take one for you.  Lukas, we’ll take the heavier one.”

“You’re really my good bros!”  Christoph was overjoyed, that really solved his urgent needs.

Lukas left the empty basket to Christoph, taking Thomas’ rather full basket.

“Go find Manuel, he’s probably worrying right now.”

七

Bastian was completely accurate in his predictions, Manuel was extremely infuriated when he turned around to not see Christoph.

How could the idiot lose him? He was even worse than that duckling...

That idiot, he wouldn’t have been kidnapped by the kidnappers from Dusseldorf, right?

Phillip once wrote in a composition vividly about the time he had stayed home alone, when someone pressed the doorbell.  Through the peephole he saw a man that he did not know, with a T-shirt that wrote “I ❤Düsseldorf”.  The stranger tried to talk Fips into opening the door, and even though he was scared, he bravely repeated “I’ll call the police!” a few times, and even recited their hotline.  At last the suspicious man left crestfallen with his tail between his legs.

Mr Bierhoff deduced that the stranger might be a kidnapper from Dusseldorf.  He reminded the kids on the team to be careful, and not to walk home alone, if they got kidnapped by the bad guys from Dusseldorf they would never see everyone ever again.

When Manuel thought of the possibility that Christoph may already be taken by the bad guys from Dusseldorf, he would never see Manuel again, he completely freaked out, pacing in circles.

At that moment, a bunch of roses entered his line of vision.

A pair of iconic uneven sized eyes emerged among the flowers - it was Christoph!

Honestly speaking, Manuel had already identified Christoph as the flower bearer from the asymmetrical hairstyle.

"Where have you been?" Despite the fact that he was immensely relieved, Manuel still carried a furious tone.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Manuel!" Christoph held the flowers even closer to Maniel, reminding him of their existence. "Are you happy with what you see?"

"No." Manuel's deadpanned, brushing off the question coldly and firing a multitude of his own. "Is there something wrong in your head? Where did you get the flowers? Hey, how did two baskets become one? …"

As Manuel spoke, he realized that Christoph had closed his eyes, puckered his lips, and his head was getting closer and closer to his own - what was the idiot thinking again?

Meanwhile Christoph had already waited for a while, but still Manuel hadn't kissed him yet, so he widened his eyes puzzled.

The two kids stared at each other with their own thoughts.

Christoph thought, Manuel isn't as unabashed as Lukas, he got shy very easily. Christoph himself should be more active - who knows, maybe Manuel is ecstatic but he just didn't know how to express it.

Manuel could only think: Did the guy get his head hit by a football again?

He repeated his questions relentlessly, “Where did you get the flowers? Where have you been?”

“No,” Christoph replied honestly, “Bastian said I couldn’t tell you.”

No? Manuel had never been refused by Christoph before.

When he heard Bastian, Manuel’s sixth sense told him that it was some prank by that eccentric pair.  He pouted and slowly said, “Tell me, I’ll bring you to my home.”

He had just finished the sentence when Christoph lit up, a radiant smile emerging on his face.  “You have to call me Foal or Apple...” he bargained.

“Alright,” Manuel said without thinking, “Little Foal, and Apple.  Now can you tell me?”

Christoph’s brain rewind the two nicknames.  Then, smiling giddily, he began.

八

“And that’s what happened.  Manuel, but you can’t find Bastian for friendship discounts... don’t give flowers to other people, okay?”

Manuel snorted coldly.  “That’s it?”  Those jerks, Basti and Poldi must have ran away a long time ago with their loot.

Christoph nodded. “Yep, now quickly bring me to your house.  Can I sleep there tonight? Can I sleep on your bed?”

For a split second, Manuel saw a little foal wagging his tail like a stupid dog.  He originally thought that he himself would be absolutely enraged over this idiot, but once realizing that Christoph wouldn’t even understand why he was angry, and would only keep on foolishly pestering him for his forgiveness, he didn’t even want to waste energy to be mad at Chris.

“...Lungsy, do you have so much money that you’re having problems spending it all?”

“Not really, I don’t even have money for the bus now... I had the money from walking the dogs, but then five dollars was for Thomas and the rest...”

“The rest were given to Bastian and Lukas.” Manuel finished.  When Lukas hung around with Bastian making up plans, he looked nothing like No 3 on the Idiot list.

“Manuel, can I call you Teddy?  Or do you like Ducky better?” Manuel had no idea what Christoph was mumbling about with that happy expression on. (T/N: The original joke is unfortunately lost through translation TWT)

Teddy?  Ducky?  What the-

Manuel ignored the two very absurd names (Seems that there isn’t only something wrong in Christoph’s brain, there’s a severe problem in there too) and said very solemnly, “Christoph Kramer, you listen to me, you have to stay very, very, very far away from Bastian and Lukas.”

“Why? I think they’re nice people, just now Lukas took away the heavier basket to help me!”

“Choose between me and the pair of liars.  If you don’t play with them anymore, I’ll bring you home.”

“Of course I’m going to choose my Ducky.”

Manuel tried his best to shake off the nickname, saying, “And, from now on I’ll help you keep all your pocket money.”

“But every weekend I have to go to the flea market, to find Thomas for querying...”

“Don’t.  If you have any questions ask me! Also, if you want to spend money, apply to me on paper, I might consider it.”

“Great!”  Christoph kissed Manuel’s neck happily, announcing, “I’m going to continue walking dogs, so that I can give you lots and lots of money!

“... ...”

Whatever, he can do what he likes - this brainless idiot will forever be brainless.

Manuel patted Christoph resignedly, and the latter covered his neck and face with kisses and saliva.

“Manuel, bring me home, I’ll be good!  I won’t hog the blankets at night!”

The little foal wagged that imaginary tail again.

It seems that this will be a very unforgettable night.

And this, will also be the first of the many Valentine’s Days together.


End file.
